


Point of Departure

by Spatz



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, Misunderstandings, Women in Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 12:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spatz/pseuds/Spatz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Carol Marcus cornered Christine at the Port Side Bar and demanded to know why she'd transferred off the Enterprise, Christine decided she was not above running. If only she hadn't already ordered her drink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Point of Departure

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Midnight Judges](https://archiveofourown.org/works/821961) by [lettered](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettered/pseuds/lettered). 



> Midnight Judges reminded me of a significant bit of Chapel canon that the movie blatantly ignored, so I wrote a fix-it. Thanks to [inmyriadbits](http://archiveofourown.org/users/inmyriadbits/) for the always-excellent beta.

When Carol Marcus cornered Christine at the Port Side Bar and demanded to know why she'd transferred off the Enterprise, Christine decided she was not above running. 

If only she hadn't already ordered her drink. And wasn't stranded in Earth orbit waiting for her transport.

“Look, Carol, the transfer was what I wanted, okay?” Christine said, watching with dismay as her bartender got ambushed by a crowd of thirsty Tellarites. She was going to be here for a while. “Professor Swift messaged me about the research they're doing on the Denevan parasites and I miss that – field work, preventative medicine, all the things I haven't gotten to do since the Academy.”

"But it's the _Enterprise_!" Carol said again, leaning close to be heard over the noise of the crowd. The Earth spacedock bar was always full of different species passing through, and the accompanying roar of languages overwhelmed even modern Universal Translators. "If you miss research, just wait! Everyone knows she's going to get that deep space mission they're talking about. And you always said McCoy was one of the best doctors in Starfleet - what was it, again? 'Low on bullshit, high in competence'?"

Christine had also said 'not inclined to meddle in his staff's personal lives,' but clearly Carol had not remembered that as a virtue. 

She sighed, staring out the wall-to-ceiling viewport behind the bar, but no inspiration was to be found even in the gossamer gleam of Luna and her spiderweb of pressure domes. Carol's single-minded drive and relentless concentration made her one hell of a researcher, but it also made her somewhat uncomfortable as a friend. Christine's reasons were more than a little complicated, and she wasn't sure Carol would even understand, much less agree.

“McCoy's a hell of an officer, and a gentleman--” despite all his efforts to hide it, Christine thought fondly “--and I made sure he had the best replacement available before leaving. Besides, even if I'd had the time to help with the shipboard research, Commander Spock has more than enough qualified people for that. And....”

She didn't want to tell the truth, which was that she still had nightmares about the Battle of Vulcan. All of the veterans on the Enterprise seemed to get them, judging by the rate the pharmasynthesizer had to be restocked with sleep aids, but hers were triggered by every red alert, every away mission that came back bloody, every engineering accident. The adrenaline rush was always something to be handled for her, not the high that seemed to make McCoy and M'Benga and Brent light up and perform miracles. 

It had been oddly difficult, coming to the realization that she didn't enjoy the sort of life that the Enterprise offered: the grand adventure of exploration left her unhappy instead of inspired, fearful where she should be curious. But for every explorer, there needed to be someone to follow along and live in the spaces they open up, and Christine was infinitely suited to the calmer, methodical work of that. She'd loved her bio-research courses at the Academy, before Vulcan, so when the transfer to Starbase 10 came up, she'd gone for it.

When Christine failed to continue promptly, Carol's eyes widened. "Oh my god. It was _him_ , wasn't it?" she asked.

Taken off guard, Christine flushed hotly. Okay, maybe that was part of the reason, but fuck. How did Carol find out about her attraction to Spock? Was she that obvious?

...Oh god, had _Spock_ known? Or Lt. Uhura? Christine could feel the mortification rising up, and choked it back. She had been nothing but professional in her time on the Enterprise, and her transfer request had very little to do with that, anyway.

She tuned back in to hear Carol say, "...I mean, of course he has a reputation, but I never thought _you_ went for that type."

"Reputation?" Christine echoed.

"Please, Christine, Jim Kirk slept with half the Academy before he graduated. And I'm including the instructors in that percentage."

"Right," Christine said faintly. "Kirk."

Honestly, she hadn't spent much time talking to the captain. Doctor McCoy tended to monopolize him any time he came to sickbay – which was often – and the nurses generally just lingered at the edge of earshot and laughed. She'd become quite fond of McCoy's Georgian colloquialisms. The captain, bless his heart, certainly flirted indiscriminately, but not seriously -- or at least, all the stories Christine had heard were from _before_ he took command, not after.

Carol, perhaps sensing that she'd left Christine behind, abruptly downshifted and looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry, Christine," she said, laying her hand on Christine's arm. "Of course you don't want to talk about it. Here, I'll buy the next round. Why don't you tell me all about your new assignment? Outer frontier, wasn't it?"

Christine relaxed and bumped her shoulder up against Carol's. She felt briefly guilty for letting the lie of omission stand, but she really didn't want to explain. And Kirk _did_ have a reputation.

Besides, it wasn't like the captain was ever going to hear about this, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> In TOS, Chapel left a career in bio-research for Starfleet, in hopes of finding her lost fiance. It seemed right to invert that in this universe.


End file.
